


Puppy Love

by carltzmann, Indelible_Faith (TheWaterGoddess), phanhorsedoris



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Dogs, Dorks in Love, Established Relationship, Fluff, Forever Home, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Phanfiction Telephone Event
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 23:18:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20479112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carltzmann/pseuds/carltzmann, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWaterGoddess/pseuds/Indelible_Faith, https://archiveofourown.org/users/phanhorsedoris/pseuds/phanhorsedoris
Summary: Sometimes domesticity is waking up to the sun shining on your face, eyes bleary as you take in the form of your partner snoring beside you. Sometimes it's a lazy morning and an over indulgent breakfast. And sometimes it's adopting a new member of the family.Or, welcome to the house, little furball.





	Puppy Love

**Author's Note:**

> this fic was written for the phanfiction telephone event! I wrote the third section, and the first two were written by tumblr users phanhorsedoris and indelibleme (pinch hitter). Enjoy!
> 
> ... 
> 
> 1st Writer - phanhorsedoris  
2nd Writer (pinch hitter) - Indelible_Faith  
3rd Writer - carltzmann

The surprise was in few months making. It took Phil a lot of research and even more sleepless nights spent on his computer. But it had to be perfect, after all, it’s not every day you make a decision that will change your life. But he knew they were ready to take the next step. They talked about it for years now. At first, maybe it was just a dream, an 'in the further future' kind of plan.

But they were in a good place now. A new home, their forever home, situated just outside of London, with a big space, a beautiful garden, and a nice neighborhood.

A puppy was going to make their small family happier and fuller. And what better day to bring this dog than on a special occasion. A two for one, as some would say.

But the decision wasn’t easy. All the doggies were just too cute for Phil, he wanted to adopt them all. He was so scared of making a rushed decision, that he asked his brother, Martyn to clear his judgment.

Eventually, after a lot of consideration, reading and a few internet tests on dog breed matching, he settled on a cockapoo. It’s a mix between a poodle and cocker spaniel, a perfect people-oriented dog, especially for first-time owners. Even the name seemed perfectly goofy.

Phil found a lady who had puppies to give away. And when he met a little, cuddly girl, who licked his palm, he fell in love straight away. As much as he wanted to take the pup with him, they were still a bit too young and he wanted to save the reveal for the surprise anyway.

So, he put a reservation on the puppy and when the lady heard the story that the puppy was a present for his lover, she offered to bring the dog to them, on the special date.  
Phil was more than happy, walking with his head in the clouds. And when Dan asked about his big grin, he just shrugged and kissed every inch of his lover’s face.

The wait was excruciating and included being creative in hiding all the dog shopping Phil did.

  
Finally, the day came. The house was empty, as Dan went to see his parents, but was coming back just afternoon. Phil was buzzing inside, couldn’t stay still.

He decorated the house early in the morning; nerves didn’t allow him to get much sleep. The whole living room was full of colorful balloons. The cake was sitting on the table, a big, creamy red velvet from their favourite bakery. Right next to a bottle of champagne, just something extra for them to celebrate.  
A big bouquet of roses was sitting on the fireplace. A few new candles light up to give the air a sweet smell.

Right on time, the doorbell rang. Phil practically ran to open it.

First, the unusual heat hit him right in the face, June usually wasn’t that hot. But all forgotten when he noticed the small ball of fur. The little girl barked and started to wag the tail upon seeing Phil. He secretly wanted to believe she remembered him.

“Hello, baby,” cooed Phil in the softest voice “It’s your new home.”

The puppy instantly ran inside, jumping on his legs. He bends down and picked the dog up, cuddling it to his chest.

She got bigger since Phil last saw her, but he knew she still had a lot more growing to do.

“Thank you so much for bringing her, my partner will be here soon so wouldn’t have enough time to prepare the surprise.”

“No problem. I’m just glad she’s going into a loving home. And I’m sure you will be excellent parents for this girl.” The lady smiled brightly. “If you’re going to have any questions or problems just call me, I’m always happy to help.”

“I’m sure we will have questions when the reality will sink in.” Phil laughed, partly from his excitement and partly from the little pup licking at his face.

“She will be a princess in this house, I can already tell.” The lady winked and Phil, scratched the puppy one last time and left with a wave and a gentle smile.

The door closed and Phil was left with the sinking reality. They owned a dog. The puppy barked again as if she was agreeing with him.

“Oh, you little cutie, Dan will fall in love with just as I have."

But just as he was saying the words, he heard another car pulling into their driveway. He looked through the window and it was, in fact, Dan in an uber.

Phil squeaked and ran into the living room with the puppy in his hands. Not knowing how to hide her, he put her under his shirt and then covered himself with a blanket and turn on the music in hope of muting down the dog noises.

The door opened a second after.

“Phil? Are you having a party without me or something?”

“Can you come to the living room!” Shouted out Phil

Dan walked in with a curious face. “What’s going on?”

Phil cleared his throat. “So, you know how we were talking about taking the next step in our relationship? Well, I kind of took it. Since today we are no longer a family of two, but a family of three”

He lifted the blanket and the shirt, gladly since he was getting hot, and the puppy jumped out immediately.

Dan’s face went through a few fazes. Shock, disbelief and finally just pure joy. “It’s ours?”

“She is,” Phil confirmed, and Dan’s eyes went wet.

But absorbed by their feelings, they didn’t notice fast enough when the puppy jumped onto the table where the cake was sitting.

* * *

It was at such times that Phil was glad to have had researched owning a pet for months in advance before taking the plunge. So had Dan, in fact. Thus, the mess cleaned, they'd had a good laugh over it and decided to spend the rest of the day letting their over excited dog get familiar with the house.

"We have to think of a name," said Dan, gaze soft and fond as he looked upon the puppy now dozing in her basket. "And I have to really commend you for hiding all these equipments well."

Phil laughed. "You dislike going to the storage attic anyway, so it wasn't that much of a hardship."

"Still," Dan poked one socked toe at Phil's bare leg, "with all those phone calls to your brother and hanky panky -"

"Hanky panky? Who even uses that phrase anymore, you weirdo!"

" - going on, I knew there was some surprise, but couldn't really guess."

They both dissolved into laughter at that, and ended up curled into one another on the sofa, one of Dan's hands resting on Phil's neck, a thumb gently stroking the curve of his jaw.

"I'm so happy today."

Phil smiled, "Yeah?"

Dan kissed him softly, once, before pulling back. "Yeah."

…

It was nearly a week later, which was spent calling their little pup all sorts of "cutesy" dog names, that they finally decided upon what to call her.

'Susan' had been out, for obvious reasons. So were all the outlandish ones they'd come up with during random gaming videos to call their virtual pets.

Surprisingly, naming their cocker spaniel and poodle hybrid dog has resulted in lots of late night googling and wiki searches. They wanted to give her a name with a meaning, one that not only they, but she also liked.

And so, after trying out a few names and seeing how she responded to them, her collar and tags had the word printed out in neat cursive: Beatrice.

It was an old English name, meaning "bringer of joy" and she was. She certainly was. Beatrice was a very energetic and happy dog, and it was reflected quite clearly in the laughing face of their cockapoo every morning when they greeted her.

"Bea, come!" Dan said, keeping his voice firm and command short, trying to get her used to these basic words.

When Beatrice obliging padded towards Dan, he held out a treat as a reward. Phil gave a whoop in praise behind the camera, from where he was sitting on the sofa, recording.

"Do you think we should start socialising her?" Phil asked after a bit, when Bea had had her fill of treats and had plopped herself down near the balcony door under a nice patch of sunlight.

"Yeah, we've had her for a couple of months now," said Dan, "and if we ever want to take her out without getting her overwhelmed…"

Phil laughed when he realised what Dan meant. When they'd finally posted a picture of Beatrice on their social media, it had blown up. The hashtag 'Welcome To The Family Beatrice' had trended on Twitter and Tumblr! If they were to ever meet any of their subscribers on a casual outing in town, they wanted Bea to be able to handle all the extra attention from random strangers.

"Good idea. We can start small, call over PJ and Sophie."

"Take her to family gatherings," Dan added, "introduce her to Darcy and Pearl, Bea would like some smaller humans to play with, I'm sure." He looked over to where Beatrice was curled up on the floorboards. "Would you like that, Bea?"

Bea opened a single eyelid at being called, looked at them as if considering, and then woofed once before resuming her nap.

"... I'm assuming that was a yes." Phil looked at Dan and said accusingly, "She's becoming more and more like you in her responses!"

"Oi, don't blame me! Between the two of us, you're the one who's fussy about answering questions or giving opinions." Dan looked at him thoughtfully, then added, "And you're definitely the more socially awkward guy."

Phil pulled one of Dan's ear in retaliation, who yelped and moved his face closer to lessen the strain.

"Let go of my ear, Phil, I'm not Bea!"

But Phil only pulled him closer in response, and took advantage of the distance to place a few wet and smacking kisses on Dan's cheek. Dan pulled away sharply at that, flipping Phil off as he laughed at Dan's feigned disgust.

They ended up on the floor, laughing and clutching at each other, and Beatrice, feeling left out, jumped into the fray with excited yaps and slobbery licks.

"Okay, no, you're not going to be socially awkward if you're this excited," said Phil, after he pulled her away from his face.

"Yes, let's foist her off on our friends for a while, let them keep up with her energy." Dan agreed, both tired and happy and looking forward to their friends actually meeting her.

Dan met Phil's eyes over Beatrice's scampering and wagging form, and smiled.

* * *

The next few weeks were a flurry of fur and baby talk. It was so exciting to really indulge in the slow trials of raising a puppy - there was no work to be done, no emails to respond to, no videos to post, just the occasional Instagram story so the fans didn’t get too crazy.

It was also extremely exhausting. “I really don’t know how anyone could raise a child,” Dan sighed one day, wiping sweaty hair out of his face as he closed the back door behind a freshly groomed Bea. “It’s so fucking hot, and every time I thought I was done I would find another clump of hair.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have worn a black sweatshirt in July,” Phil suggested from the couch.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have gotten a dog that you’d be allergic to so I wouldn’t have to be the one laboring away at her coat while you play Mario.” Dan lifted the sweatshirt off his body and threw it on the couch before lying down himself.

“Hey, that thing’s covered in fur, go put it in the laundry, you dolt.”

Dan whined loudly and did nothing of the sort.

They also had some sad times with Bea - or, one in particular. Phil had never known Dan to be the hypochondriac of the family until he started pestering Phil about their puppy’s eyes.

“They just look really strange, do you not see that? They’re like glinting in this odd way, and she keeps bumping into things. I’m worried she’s gonna get hurt.”

Phil crouched down to see what Dan was talking about - and actually, her eyes did look a little strange. They had a slight greenish tint. And he was right, her sight didn’t seem to be all that good, which was a little concerning, since she was only a puppy.

He furrowed his brow. “Alright, yeah, let’s take her to the vet.”

“It’s called progressive retinal atrophy. It’s actually the most common health issue we see in cockapoos,” the veterinarian said, with a soft, sad look in his eyes.

Phil’s stomach sank with dread. He had definitely read something about cockapoos being prone to eye problems.

“Basically, the photoreceptors in her eyes were programmed to develop abnormally. This means she will almost definitely go blind within one to two years.”

Dan sighed and reached out a hand for Phil to hold.

“This doesn’t mean the end of a normal life for you or Bea, of course. Dogs don’t use their eyes nearly as much as we do, and because this is a degenerative disease, hopefully she can get somewhat accustomed to your home before complete vision loss.”

After a long talk about what kind of environment Bea would need, and how they can adjust their home accordingly, they left the veterinarian with Bea walking slowly beside them.

“I hope you aren’t too sad about this,” Dan said softly, as he drove out of the parking lot. “I think we can make those adjustments easily. It’s just a new challenge to work with.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m really glad we have a forever home for her, so she doesn’t have to go through any big changes once she’s fully blind.”

Like with any project, Dan went a bit overboard in creating a safe environment for Bea. He made her a cute little tag to add to her collar that read, “I don’t see very well!”, and started to work on teaching her new commands, like “step up” and “stop”. She was a smart dog, and she took to it quickly. Phil just liked to sit and watch as Dan gave her encouraging pets and treats with even the smallest steps towards progress.

“Wow, it has been a long day,” Dan said, climbing into bed next to Phil that night. It was ridiculously large and comfy - they may have splashed out slightly on the mattress - but Phil still cuddled close to Dan to absorb his warmth.

“Somehow I’m not tired yet,” Phil said, setting his phone on his nightstand and then laying down, staring at the ceiling.

“Me neither.” They looked at each other simultaneously, and then Dan pressed their lips together. Phil could tell in an instant, from years of sex with Dan, what his partner was implying from this kind of kiss.

“Really? We just found out our dog has a degenerative disease and you wanna have sex?”

“Do you not want to?”

“Fair enough.”

Phil was blessedly sleepy by the time they were done, and when he turned over to make sure his alarm was set for the next morning, he met Bea’s warm eyes from her bed in the corner.

He yelped. “Bea was in here the whole time!”

“It’s fine, it’s not like she could see anything anyway.”

Phil smacked Dan’s arm scoldingly despite erupting with laughter. “Dan! She’s not even blind yet!”

“Oh, whatever.” Phil scooted over and wrapped his arm around his partner, letting sleep sink in over him, feeling deeply at peace and at home.

**Author's Note:**

> check out my tumblr @dnplegs :)


End file.
